Highway Bandit
by Lacklusterpanic
Summary: Daryl meets a girl on the highway, and she eventually steals his heart.
1. Chapter 1

**Got part of this idea from a story where a girl and daryl end up in a trunk together. Sorry i would give you credit but i cannot remember what story it was! So sorry, but i swear it was only that scene that i stole the idea for. This will be a pretty short story probably. Just a little drabble/fluff.**

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We should really just ditch that piece of shit rv. No matter how much Dale loved it, it wasn't reliable. Valuable looting time or not, being stuck out here wasn't smart. I always liked the woods better than this shit. As I looked through things warily I saw something flash. The trunk of a car five feet in front of me was only partway closed. my crossbow raised and i knew i was scowling. how could it be part way closed? That didn't make no damn sense.

It was as I was creeping towards the car that I saw the walkers. Signaling the others I hastily darted to the car. It was the nearest cover. Opening the trunk I saw a woman, but she was alive and I was out of time, so I dove on top of her and closed the trunk. She wiggled in panic, stilling almost immediately when the groans of the walkers picked up.

I didn't see much of her when I dove in the trunk. As the walkers continued to moan and drag past the car i relaxed, and turned my attention to the girl beneath me. What the hell had she been doing in the trunk of the car? Who was she? She was shorter than me, and well built. I could feel the tight stomach against me, and soft swell of breasts pressing against my chest. It was uncomfortable, being this close to a stranger. Hell, she even smelled good, like vanilla. I was lying completely on top of her, one of my knees in between her legs, my arms keeping the top half of my body from crushing her entirely. The trunk was dark save a glow in the dark release handle. With that light I couldn't make out much about her.

She was young. Probably 21 or 22. Her face was soft, and pretty. Her hair was brown, maybe a little red. I couldn't quite make it out. She wiggled under me. I could feel the tight stomach against me, and soft swells of breasts pressing against my chest.  
I gritted my teeth. She felt good. Immediately i realized we'd be in trouble if she kept it up. Usually being touched bothered me a bit, but for some reason she felt nice beneath me.

"what the hell are you doing. Don't move" I hissed out. angry.  
She disregarded me again, and wiggled some more, pushing herself closer to the side of the trunk.  
"seriously girl what the fuck" I was getting angrier. My body was starting to respond, and much quicker than I could understand. Maybe it had been too long since I had whacked one off. I knew it had been too long since i had a good roll in the hay.

I hadn't had an erection since the freaking world ended. Not much time to waste on that when it was about survival. But judging by the way my body was responding to her wriggling softly against me it seemed like it had decided apocalypse be damned it needed something.

"knock it off" my voice was harsh.  
"there's a tire iron digging into my back" she hissed back, readjusting her body against mine once again.  
A few seconds later she froze, and I swore. She had definitely noticed that I was now hard against her leg.  
I didn't have time to respond In embarrassment before her breathing started to come out in quick, panicked gasps.  
"no. please. No" her voice was panicked, hardly before a whisper and she seemed to be struggling to pull in oxygen.

"shhh. Girl shut the hell up"  
A walker brushed against the car.  
Her chest was going up in down in short, halted breaths.  
"shh. Shhhh."  
"oh god."

She was getting louder, but still astonishingly quiet considering she was clearly breaking down.  
One of my hands went over her mouth, the other onto the side of her head to direct her to look at me.  
"look at me. yeah. Good girl eyes on me. Breath okay. Shhhhh" i whispered.  
Her eyes stared into mine, her face twisted in panic. But her breathing had slowed a bit, and the panicked noises had halted behind my hand.  
"I'm going to move my hand now. Will you keep quiet?" Her body was still shaking beneath mine, but she nodded".  
"good. You're okay girl. I aint gunna touch you. It just what happens with all the wigglin. I told you to stop"

My hand framed her face and I could feel tears coming down it. I felt terrible. She looked so innocent and scared. I didn't even know why but I just wanted to make her feel better.  
"hey. It's okay. What's your name honey?"  
"n-natasha" Her voice was shaky. Her breathing still far from normal.  
"k. Natasha take a deep breath. Why you freakin out"  
"we met a group."  
Her lips trembeled, her eyes turned from mine and her breathing became erratic again.  
"oh god. They. Leila. and Heidi. They." She couldn't continue the sentence.  
My hand went back over her mouth.

"shhhhh. Natasha. Natasha. Look at me right now" my voice was firm now.  
When her eyes turned to mine I removed my hand.  
It felt like an eternity she was staring at me. I didn't say much of anything, just shushing noises.

She was breathing normal now. Her tears dry. The last of the shuffling went by, and I pulled myself from the trunk, helping the girl out too.  
The sun felt bright.  
She was short. Probably only 5'3. She pulled a pack onto her back that had been sitting by the car. How had I not noticed that.  
Biting her lip she looked up at me.

"I. I'm sorry. Thank you. I just don't do well with being touched."  
"yeah whatever" It was awkward now. What was I supposed to do with this random girl.  
"you're a good man." She said, looking me in the eyes.  
And just as quickly as she had appeared, she darted down the embankment, into the woods, the way we had come from.  
Shaking my head I turned my attention back to the yelling group.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, i have a few more chapters done. Not sure how much i like writing in first person though. So here you go :) Please. Constructive Criticism would be great. I am trying to write a decent story here :) **

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I was walking back to the camp after another day of not finding Sophia when I saw the commotion by the farmhouse.  
Rick and Shane both stood, voices raised. Shane's face was busted in, and I could see a small figure standing in front of them backing up, shotgun in hand and trained on Shane. Hershel was on the porch, watching the scene unfold. He looked none to happy.  
I picked up my pace, crossbow pointed at the intruder.  
As I came upon Glen I asked him what was going on. He was standing back away from the commotion, behind the shotgun girl.  
"Daryld. Good. Some chick brought sophia back. she's wigging out now though."  
I walked forward quietly. As i got closer though i realized she was the girl from the highway.  
Sophia was in her mommas arms, behind Hershel on the porch screaming. how i hadn't noticed her before amazed me. The usually meek little thing was making quite a ruckus.

"leave her alone! Don't hurt her!" her little voice was being ignored.  
"just put the gun down and we'll talk rationally. You're hurt. Your bleeding. We can help you" Ricks voice was calm reasonable, though his gun was pointed at her.  
"what the hell. You'll be sorry" Shane was yelling at the trembling woman same time as Ricks calm talkin.  
"it's okay. Just tell us your name" Rick tried again.  
"fuck rick! She's probably been bit! Shoot her" Shane turned seething to Rick.  
"please leave her alone. She was shot not bit! Don't hurt her!" sophias little voice rang out. She was usually timid as a mouse, but she was screaming on the top of her lungs now.  
She was shaking, harder than she had been in the trunk. One of her legs was clearly bleeding, and her shirt was soaked red as well.  
Well fuck they weren't doing a very good job at this.  
"Natasha" I said loudly. Angry. What the hell, the girl was going to get herself killed.  
Her head immediately whipped towards me, gun still trained on the bloodied shane.  
"give me the gun. Now"  
I didn't leave room for arguments, and she turned fully towards me, shallowly gasping for breath as she handed it over.  
I pushed it behind me into glens arms.  
Shane and Rick didn't seem to have noticed it, but she was definitly struggeling breathing. Probably another panic attack.  
"you're hurt girl! Don't be stupid. Hershel's gunna help you"  
She still looked at me, trembling and seemingly confused. She looked pretty lost.  
"hey, hey Natasha girl. you're hurt." my voice softened. She was hurt. It was all that i could think about. I needed to help her. She glanced down at her wounds and back up at me.  
"yeah see. No one here is gunna hurt you. We want to help." She glanced around, her attention coming back to shane who was advancing towards her. I just about shot the guy myself at this point. She had gone and saved the lil' girl and now he was threatenin her?  
Panickly she stepped backwards closer to me, within arms reach, heavily favoring her right leg.  
"Natasha." I said loudly again, trying to ignore how pissed I was at shane. he was yelling stupid stuff, but i wasn't even sure if the girl could here. She sure wasn't doing to well. Hell, she'd obviousely had problems with guys before dipshit deputy here. But she turned towards me when i repeated her name.  
"let me past rick!" shane was yelling. Clearly rick had seen the girls panic and held shane back.  
Fuck them. i didn't care about them. It was her who needed my attention now.  
"girl. Look at me. aint no one gunna hurt you here. Breath" she did, though she still seemed dazed. "breath" i repeated. Her eyes were staring straight into mine again. Green. Dark green, and filled with tears.  
Everyone else had stopped talking, but i hardly registered it.  
"good girl. Listen. You're hurt. You're bleeding out. Can you walk?" I needed to get her help. now.  
Her lower lip trembeled. She shook her head.  
"What the fuck, we gunna help this psycho?" I glanced up, just now noticing shane's mouth and nose were both bleeding. Didn't take a genius to figure out she'd laid into him.  
" just shouldn'ta touched her none and she wouldnt'a hurt you" I growled at him. What right did he have putting his hands on her?  
My attention turned back to the girl. She was trembling  
"I'm going to pick you up. don't you panic k"  
She didn't respond, but as I pulled her up bridal style her arms went around my neck. She continued to stare up into my eyes.  
"shh" I cooed at her as I brushed past rick and shane. All of em were just starin' like they hadn't nothing better to do.  
Hershel snapped into action, leading me into a room to set her down in.  
He immediately started snipping at her shirt, that wound was bleeding much more than the leg.  
Her body went rigid as she glanced at what he was doing, and she grabbed at me.  
I came closer.  
"hey. Don't be stupid girl. He's a doctor. You're hurt. He's gotta see the wound."  
"Daryl. We don't have time. Pick her back up. keep her calm"  
I balked at the idea. No way in hell i could comfert a girl. Who did he think i was? I almost snapped at Hershel, but happened to look down at her. Ididn't know why but the confusion and fear in her eyes was enough to drop me down back on the bed, and pull her onto my lap again.  
He pulled the shirt from off of her. Definitly from a bullet. In the front blood poured from a wound, but the back where the bullet had come out was worse, a bloody ripped up mess. I had been used to seeing wounds, but it just seemed all kinds of wrong that she'd get shot. Hershel went to fixing her up. It didn't take long for her to pass out from the pain, though she was hardly more than whimpering as he started ebbing the flow of blod. I was covered in her blood, but at least we were pretty sure she wasn't bit or infected. Eventually Hershel had me lay her down.  
My jeans were sticky and wet with blood, and i just about cringed. Covered in walkers blood, deer blood was fine. But this was her blood.  
Her leg wasn't bleeding near as bad, but hershel pulled two bullets out of it, and stitched up what looked like a nasty knife wound.  
After all was said in done i looked down at the incredibly pale girl.  
"Patricia will tend to her. I'm going to see to Sophia"  
I was just looking at the girl, hardly registering that Hershel talked. Whoever did this was goign to pay. Ain't no one should be shooting women folk. Especially her.  
Patricia made a disapproving clucking noise at me as i stared at the girl, and began to cover her up. With the blood and the injury i hadn't bothered to look at her as a woman. But of course with that my attention was once my attention was once again drawn to that fact.  
Her skin, that not marked by the wounds, looked delectable, if not way to pale. She was all Curves, a pretty black bra barely hiding her very ample chest. Long silky hair.  
Aw hell. The girl was gorgeous.  
I was going to kill whoever marked her up.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey. So i always felt sophia should be closer to the 9-11 age bracket. and that she'd be able to brush parts of this off. I take this from the fact even super traumatized kids can snap out of things like they didn't happen. Trauma is still there, but they are pretty resilient And i felt like the little shy sophia was from the abuse from Ed. i'll get more into what happened in the woods eventually. And i'll probly have a chapter from Natasha's point of view coming up pretty soon :) don't worry, i'll get our bandit back on the highway soon too. **

Carol had a softly sniffling Sophia on her lap as Hershel looked her over. Rick and Shane stood quietly arguing near the door.  
"Sophia is fine. Some water would be good, and maybe something to eat, but she's no worse for the wear" Hershel finally announced.  
"Thank you Hershel." Rick said, immediately walking up to the now vetted girl. He dropped down to one knee in front of her and her momma.  
"Sophia honey, we need to talk about what happened"  
"Cant this wait rick! My baby just got back" Carol snapped at his intrusion.  
"Carol. I understand that. But we need to know what happened. Know how the stranger got her. Know what hurt her."  
"gunshot wounds. Three of them. Two to the leg, one to the stomach. Looked like a pretty nasty knife wound or two too, on the leg her side" Hershel spoke up.  
"she wasn' hurt none last week on the highway" I spoke up. Pretty sure she wasn't anyways. The girl had been pressed up against me and didn' show no signs of injury. Not physical anyways.  
"that's another thing, how the hell does Dixon know that" shane demanded. Clearly pissed. I had hardly noticed him standing to the side.  
Before I could growl out a response hecontinued. "she could have a group! She could be bringing them here"  
"she didn't have a group! She saved me. from the walkers. And the mean men!" sophia's little voice piped up. I guess being out in the woods had given her a was glarin' daggers at Shane.  
"okay sweetie. It's okay. Just tell us the story from the beginning. Okay?" rick placated.  
"You. You left me. and after you left I walked towards camp just like you said. i was being good. But there was a walker...and... And I got scared. And I got lost. oh mamma." She started crying into her momma again. Carol rocked her.  
"okay honey. What happened next?" Carol questioned.  
"it was dark. And I was wanderin. Tasha found me. She was in a tree. Pulled me up into it. I wanted you so bad mamma, but she promised to help. She gave me food to eat. We slept tied to a tree. We tried to go back to the highway but ran into more walkers. A whole herd! But it was okay. We ran. It was taking so long to find you guys. And then, then I saw a camp and I thought it was you guys. I didn't listen to her and I ran to it 'cause I was so excited. But it was bad men.  
Sophai, had pulled slightly away from carol when telling her story. But with the mention of the men she curled back into her again, tears escaping down her face.  
"It's okay Sophia. You are doing great. Can you tell me how many bad men there were?" Rick asked.  
"I don't know. 10. Maybe 15. I dunno" Damn it. That'd be a pretty sizeable group to go up against. and they could be on their way.  
"Think real hard Sophia. This is important"  
"no it's not" sophia insisted "They said. They said they were gunna hurt me. Told me I was young b-but had the right parts." I cringed at this. Sunna of a bitch! The girl was hardly 10 years old. God damn it i was definitly going to kill these men.  
" I though she had left me. she hadn't followed me into the camp. i thought" Her tears came out again. "they were gunna. mamma" the little girl was sobbing into her mother now, who was holding her closer.  
Shock settled over the room. I swore under my breath. Rick looked about ready to be sick. Carol gasped in horror.  
"my baby" Carol bawled, crying into her little girls hair.  
"it's okay sophia. You did good. we can do this another time" Rick managed out.  
"Tasha killed em'" sophia whispered.  
"what was that?" rick asked, confused. I reckoned my face mirrored his. what'd the girl say.  
"don't get mad! Momma don't be mad. She had to do it to save me. I know it was murder but. But she had to!" Sophia's little voice was filled with fear for her savior.  
"I'm not mad Sophia. None of us are mad. What happened?" rick asked  
"They were gunna hurt me. So she killed em."  
"what, how? when?" shane sputtered out.  
"earlier today"  
"howd she kill them?" SHane demanded again, louder.  
sophia began to cry harder, thinking back on the scene.  
"how'd you find your way here?" Rick changed the topic.  
"Tasha. yesterday she found walkers dead. Said they'd been killed by arrows. One still had an arrow. Said she recognized them, that it was from Mr. Daryl Followed a trail in the right direction. Tasha said it was like hansel and Gretel. A bread trail"  
The focus turned to me.  
"daryl, do you know this girl?" rick questioned.  
My palms got sweaty at all the attention turned towards me. I nervously cleared my throat.  
"know her? Naa. She was hiding on the highway the day Sophia went missing. Ended up in the same car as her. Run off in the direction we came when the herd passed. She seemed pretty alone and harmless. What with Sophia missing and all I forgot" I admitted.  
"bullshit, then how'd you know she freaked out when I touched her" Shane demanded  
All heads snapped back towards me  
"she freaked out in the car. We were in the trunk real close. Said something about a group of men. Figured she dun like men touchin' her none".  
"okay everyone calm down." rick broke in " We've had a long few hours. For now she doesn't seem like a threat. And she saved sophia's life. So we help her. We'll figure out the rest tomorrow."  
"Honey. Why don't you go take a nice hot bath" . Patricia spoke up looking at the shook up sophia " Afterwards we'll see about getting you some supper"  
Sophia stood up and i tried to hold back a small smile. The little girl was back. i knew she was okay!  
"Cleanliness is next to godliness." she quipped. Her time in the woods had done her a world of good. She didn't look at all afraid of being aroudn the group, not even timid in front of me.  
Shane stormed out of the house grumbling. Rick, who did look tired, mentioned he was going to tell everyone what had happened. Hershel dissapeared into the kitchen.  
I stood hovering undecided near the hall. i felt like i should check in on the girl. Natasha. Pretty Name. I felt like i needed to check on her. protect her. Maybe it was because she had saved Sophia. Must be. My jaw was clenched... I stood staring at the door for quite a while. No one seemed to noitice i was still there.  
Before i could figure out whether or not to go in a nice clean sophia came tumbeling down the hall, carol following behind at least sort of confused.  
she ran smack dab into me.  
Instead of scampering away she looked up at me, clenched her nose, and then pulled my arm. I realized i was still covered in blood. I must look like a sight to the girl. But she didn't seem scared.  
I knelt down without even thinking of it, and next thing i knew she had her arms around my neck, hugging me.  
When she pulled back she still seemed a little unsure of herself. bit her lip, something i had seen the stranger from the highway do. Wondered if sophia got it from her.  
"mr daryl?" sophia started tentatively. but determanation set in her eyes and she continued. " Tasha said if it weren't for you out lookin' for me and with the arrows she wouldn't have been able to find us."  
i grunted. and stood up. she didn't take this as a negative and continued.  
"You saved me from being lost. Thank you"  
carol piped up  
"yes. thank you so much Daryl. You did more for my baby girl" tears choked her up but she continued "you. you saved my baby. Thank you"  
next thing i knew she was hugging me too. i was stiff, uncomfortable with all this affection.  
sophia joined the hug. My skin was crawlin. Why the hell were they touching me. I just about pressed myself against the wall to get away from them.  
"wasn' me who saved me girl. it was the girl" i leaned my head to indicate the door the injured highway stranger was laying.  
"her names Tasha! And i know. But you did too. both of you. And you saved her." sophia burst out, like she was proud or somethin.  
And just like that the now cheerfull Sophia pulled her mother towards the kitchen.  
Whatever had happened this last week in the forest had broken little Sophia entirely out of her shell. Wouldn't think getting lost in the woods could do a child such good.


End file.
